Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/317

Rh "My! What is it, Hannah?" Robert had stepped from the stall where he had placed his faithful horse, and as he looked down into Hannah's face his anger appeared for some reason to be as great as her own.

"Oh, he has n't hurt me He would n't dare to!" and the girl's eyes snapped as she spoke. "But I just know he's been doing things no friend of ours would ever do. Last night he and a man were talking for hours, I should say, out by the well."

"Could you hear them?"

"I could n't hear what they said, but I could see the man who was there. He was the biggest man I ever saw"—

"Josh!" interrupted Robert sharply.

"I saw the big man give him something that looked like a lot of money. You see, it was moonlight, and I could see everything they did. I don't know why my father had us come here! I despise this man, but my father thinks it is safer for us here, so I suppose we 'll stay. Oh, dear, I wish we were back in our own home and there wasn't any war."

"But you 're not back in your own home and there is war, Hannah," said Robert soberly. "We can't run from it, you know."

"Who is talking about running, I'd like to